Coronado is home to both Naval Air Station North Island and the Naval Amphibious Base, yet these two bases make up only a small fraction of the Navy installations that are part of Navy Region Southwest in which Rear Adm. Brad Rosen is responsible. As the Commander of Navy Region Southwest Rear Adm. Rosen leads the headquarters that manages all Navy installations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, ensuring the bases are equipped to support the service-members assigned to them. San Diego County alone has almost 25% of all Navy vessels and approximately 17% of the Navy’s active-duty personnel, making it one of the largest naval personnel concentrations in the country, keeping Rosen and his staff very busy.
Rear Admiral Rosen is enjoying his first tour in San Diego and loves living in the Coronado community. Having grown up in Randolph, New Jersey and spending the majority of his Navy career as a P-3 Naval Flight Officer on the East Coast, Rosen appreciates the perfect weather and small town feel he has come to know in Coronado. A high school swimmer and tennis player and a proud member of the ‘Top Gun’ generation of recruits, Rosen attended the United States Naval Academy and earned his commission in 1995 before heading off to flight school.
When asked about his fondest memories of his flying days he said, “Tracking submarines in the North Atlantic out of Iceland was rewarding and we were part of the peacekeeping operations out of the Balkans in the late nineties which was also really rewarding.”
Aside from a successful operational career that culminated in command of VP-16 in Jacksonville, Florida and his Major Command of Naval Station Norfolk, the largest base in the United States Navy, Rosen had a number of interesting jobs that broadened his perspective and world view. He received a Masters in Public Administration in 2005 from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Later in his career he was selected for the Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellows Program and was assigned to Cisco Systems in San Jose, California. Upon completion of his fellowship, he served as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs. His diverse career path helped shape his leadership style and understanding of many of the broad scope of challenges he faces as the Regional Commander.
Rosen is happily married to his wife Kasey and is the father of three, twins that are in their freshman year of college at Brown University and Boston College, and a freshman at Coronado High School. In describing his first impressions of living in Coronado he said, “I love it, I think it is wonderful, the community here is very welcoming, the community leaders are very supportive.” He went on to say, “I live in Quarters D on North Island which has a rich history, it was home to Captain and Mrs. John McCain who lived there from 1939-1941. He was promoted to Vice Admiral by the end of WWII and was at the signing of the Instrument of Surrender on the USS Missouri. He was also the grandfather of Senator John McCain III.”
Rosen also shared his thoughts on the relationship of Navy installations with the local and state government. He said, “The outstanding collaboration we have with the state and local governments is phenomenal and makes my job easier. I think in California we lead the way for environmental collaboration between the Department of Defense and the State for the rest of the nation. I am proud of the work we are doing with that. Since I have been here we have delisted five species from San Clemente which is the single largest delisting of species in the history of the endangered species act. It not only protects these species, it also allows us to train and do our jobs.”
“We have a significant presence in Coronado with our three carriers and the master helicopter base and we do our best to be good neighbors. For example, we signed an inter governmental support agreement (IGSA) with the port 18 months ago, the IGSA allows us to get credit for when we operate our ships on shore power. These credits will help us to improve infrastructure and resiliency at the base. Separately, we are also able to take our ships off shore power during extreme heat events, reducing the load on the grid in order to support the community and avoid brown outs.”
Rosen is kept extremely busy in his job, but enjoys going to Dog Beach or dining out at The Henry or Miguel’s. He also loves cheering on his daughter who plays volleyball and soccer for Coronado High School and soccer for Coronado FC.
